Manufacture of hydraulic cement products



Aug. 3,1, 1943. R. B. cRABBs 4MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT PRODUCTS original Filed April 4. 1955 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Aug. 31, 1943 MANU'FACTUBE oF mannaro CEMENT raonuo'rs l Roscoe B. CrabbaMorristown, N. J., assigner to The corporation of Ohio Continuation of application Serial No.

This 'application December 1,

April 4, 1933.

193s, serial No. 243,468 l s claims. (cias-154) This invention relates to asbestos-cement shingle and siding products and molding plates by whichsaid products are provided witha decorative design impressed in.the weather exposed face of the products. TheJ design is formed by narrow ridges and depressions of irregular height; width and depth predominantly longitudinally disposed to drain the surface of the. shingles.

.The products are preferably formed of asbestos ber mixed with cement. 'I'he mixture is molded in sheets with a molding-plate provided with the design that is to be impressedupon the ex- Philip Carey Manufacturing Company, a

spout 3, over'an apron 3a', to an endless traveling felt conveyor 4. This traveling felt conveyor 4 is carried on drive rolls 5, and travels over' carrier rolls 6, these carrier lrolls supporting the felt to which the stock is delivered. The felt 4 travels to the right in vthe direction of the arrow, and the thin 4layer of stock has the excess water drawn from it by suction boxes 1. As' the felt 4 continues its forward travel, the thin layer of shingle stock is picked up by accumulator roll 8 and is carried around thereby until a laminated formof the desired thickness is built up.

posed surface` of the sheets. Several sheets may be moldedat a time with any number of sheets alternately disposed in a stack with the molding plates. The molding plates are preferably formed by coating a rigid base, with some composition material which may beV readily embossed with the desired design. Vulcanized rubber is suitable for covering the metal plate. The meta1 plateis covered with `a rubber coating and then the rubber coating is vulcanized with a reverse replica of the'decorative design desired. When the rubber facing'has become worn or the design impaired, it can be replaced with a new rubber facing applied to the metal base. y

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be 'made tol the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a machine for producing a laminated/sheet'fmm which the shingles are formed;-

Fig. 2 is a, perspective view of atruck for handung e laminated pi1e of the shingle bodies and their interposed surface forming plates.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a hydrostatic press withv a truckload of shingle bodies Aand their interposed surface forming plates under the ram.

Fig. 431s a perspective view face forming plates;

such as metal,

of one of thesur' The layer of stock on roll 8 is` added to, a layer for each revolution of the roll. On the first lamination of stockwhich contacts with the face of l the roll 8, there is deposited, while the stock is by the convolution applied to the' chine operator slides a cutter across the face of Y Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a shingle blank after it has been stamped 'from' the sheet stock.

Fig. 6 is a face view of a finished shingle body; Fig. 7 is an end elevation of a ridge roll or a curved shingle having a surface similar to that shown in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 8 8 of Fig- 6.

In the production of the shingle products, the

stock of the desired mixture of asbestos fiber and cement is supplied, through pipes I to a mixing tank 2, from a series of stock pumps (not'shown) 'even -layer on the surface of on traveling felt 4 and before `being taken up on the roll 8, a-layer of coloring material from color bin 9. This coloring material maybe finely powdered slate or other mineral coloring of a weather proof character and is deposited in an the stock on felt 8 and forms the stocklon roll 8.

has been built up roll 8, the ma- 4 which ispicked up byroll inner surface of the laminated When the desired thickness roll 8 to sever the laminated stock from the roll 8, as shown in dotted line at 8a (Fig. 1), and deposit it onsloping'table I0, from which it is slid forward by hand totable portionv rectly attached; to a punch press l2.

This punchpress I2 has a die plunger I3 for stamping out of the sheet of laminated stock the shingle blanks which are then removed from the press and placed on table I4. These shingle blanks I5 (Fig. 5) are, while in a plastic state, susceptible of easy handling, and are manually removed and piled in a stack on a wheeled truck A guide member l1 have, two surfaces of the color of the basic mate- From the mixing tank 2, 'the stock flows through 55 rial, into which may have able coloring pigment.

It is desired, however, to overcome the objecbeen mixed any lsuit- II which is ditions heretofore having a smooth of Vthe shingles,

in the form herein described, provided with a surface to simulate a surface which has long` been subjected to, and attacked by, weather conditions resulting in the exposed portions having become surface-ridged and furrowed by the action of the elements. The process to accomplish this will now be set forth.

The surface that it is desired to simulate on the finished shingles is produced by bringing the plastic surface' of the shingle blanks into con'- tact with a surface forming plate i8 provided with a surface which is a reverse Vreplica of the surface it is desiredthat the finished shingles have. The surface plate i8 (see Fig. 4) consists of a steel hee is, the size ef which is at least equal to that of the shingle being produced. 'Ihis steel plate has, vulcanized to one face, a hard rubber matrix 2d, having a surface in reverse replica of the surface .that is to be produced on the plastic shingle blanks. The opposite .sur-

- face of the plate i8 is relatively smooth.

These plates i8 may have the hard rubber matrixes 2t produced in a variety of patterns and` thus vary the surface appearance of the shingles produced by Returning now to the truck it and to the rst plastic shingle blank laid thereon. There is nowplaced over the plastic shingle blank i5, one of the plates i8, withits matrix face'in f the matrix face of contact with the plate faces.

Contact with theface of the plastic shingle blank. A

, The smoothback of the metal plate i8 is uppermost; upon this is laid a second plastic shingle blank with (if colored) its color face uppermost and again a plate i8 is laid on Athe shingle blank with its matrix face 20 downward and its smooth back face uppermost. 'IZhis alternating of the plates it and the plastic shingle blanks i5 continues until a stockv of molds and plastic shingle blanks havebee'n formed on truck i6 as indicated at 2l, Figure 2.

The plates i8, previous to being placed upon the shingle blanks i5, are preferably dipped-in oil to prevent adhesion of the plastic material of the shingle blanks to the matrix face of the molds. When the stack 2i is complete, the guide member il is removed and the truck iii, with the completed stack 2l, is run. under the ram 22 `of hydrostatic press 23. Y'

Pressure is applied tothe ram 22, and the stack 2i, composed of alternating plates it and plastic shingle blanks i5, is subjected to pressure which removes moisture and surplus oil from the stack of plastic shingle blanks and the plates and sets theV asbestos and cement content into a compact shingle, and provides the shingle with one surface which has furrows and ridges ir-v depth, or'form. It is preferfurrows and ridges extending regular in length, able to have these Y visibility of any free or ridges are generally more longitudinally of the shingle so that when in place on av structure they serve to guide rain, snow, etc.in the desired direction. The pressure tends to compact the shingle material, resulting in the shingle being more compact or of greater density in its thinner portions 32 while less dense lin its thicker portions. As the pressure is applied the high spots on the matrix 20 tend to set up a fiow ofthe mass into the low spots or valleys on the matrix which form the high portions on the finished shingle. Ihis the ridges and furrows,

increased fibers in the thin portion of the shingle dueto the density of the mass, adds to the strength of the shingle in its thinner portion and tends to equalize the strength in both thick and thin portions. y

After the pressure application to the stack, the ram 22 is raised, and the truck, with its compressed stack of shingles and molds, is removed from the press 23 to a drying and curing room where the entire stack 2i is removed from the truck iand left to cure and age.

After sumcient time has elapsed for the curing process, the molds are their positionsbetwcen the now complete shingles and again used forl further production purposes.

It has been found in practice that the use of rubber faced plates produce a design surface upon the shingle blanks without anyof the plastic materials adhering to the rubber surface of the plates it, and that these rubber faced plates i3 may be repeatedly used over and over again.

'Ihere is shown in Fig. 6 the finished surface of a shingle 26 having the ridges 3l andthe furrows 32 which arelof varying heights or depths as shown in'cross section in Fig. 7 showing a curved shingle. This shingle is curved after being pressed to provide the nished surface and before it is cured. In the finished shingle the thicknessvaries because of the varying heights of the ridges and the varying depths of the furrow or valleys'between ridges.

In asbestos-cement products due to eiiiorescence the free lime in the product tends to rise to the surface and deposit there an irregular marring of the surface when the surface is fiat. My improved shingle greatly counteracts the effect of the marring which results from efilorescence by breaking up the surface into ridges and furrows or effect due to the irregular heights and depths 0f creating shadows of different intensities and generally providing a beautiful soft weather aged effect, and at the same time providing valleys into which deposits of the free lime tend to gather while the elevations are rather free from such' deposits. This, due to shadows caused thrown overwtl're valleys,

limeiin the valleys.

tends to` prevent the Also,

as the elevations readily acted upon by weathering due to the same being more exposed to the elements results inia removal by the elements of any slight de^ posits on the ridges.

After the shingles are cured they may then be cut-or trimmed if desired and have holes Si@ provided in them for nails. if holes are provided it may be sometimes desirable to have them in a thicker portion of the shingle as shown in Fig. 6. vThis case is a continuation of my application Serial No. 664,454, filed April 4, 1933.

flow causes the' ber-s or some of them in the" mass toI assume a position transverse to the longitudinal lay of the valley and this, with the Having set forth the process and product it n is desired to secure by Letters Patent the following claims: t ,f

l. As an article of manufacture an impression plate for use in a press moldfor'r'nolding hydraulic cement and fiber products with a decorative design comprising a metal plate, a composition non-metallic coveringmaterialxed'to one side ofthe plate, and narrowly spaced elevations and depressions of irregular heights and depths covering for impress-1V formed in the composition ing said products.

then removed from.

valleys, thereby breaking the color by, the ridges being 2. As an article of manufacture an impression platefor use in a press mold 'forgmold'ing hydraulic cement and fiber products with a' decorative design comprising a metal platea rubber facing xed to one side of the plate, andnarrowly spaced elevations and depressions' of irregu' lar heights and depths formed in the composition coveringfor impressing said products.

3: .As an article of'manufacture an impressionV plate for use in a press mold for molding hydrau.

lic cement and flber products comprising a metal plate and a covering ofnon-metallic material permanently bonded to that face of said plate which is exposed to the material to be molded.

4. As an article of manufacture an impression plate for use in a press mold for molding hydraulic cement and ber Aproducts comprising a metal plate and a covering of non-metallic material vulcanized to that face of said plate which vis exposed to the material to be molded.

V5. A process .of manufacturing composition shingles having a weather exposed surface simulating the grain of weathering comprising `form ing an embossing member provided with a plurality of elongated'diierently dimensioned narrow stripes which are of varying width from end to end and of Varying degrees of separation from 'adjacent stripes, treating the embossing member with oil to prevent sticking, and impressing the shingles with the embossingmember to form a reverse' replica of the stripes across the full Roscoe' B. cRABBs i5 exposed width -thereof. 

